Article carrier



Sept. 24, 1968 R, W, MATTHEWS ET AL 3,402,849-

ARTICLE CARRIER Filed March 29, 1966 United States Patent O 3,402,849ARTICLE CARRIER Robert W. Matthews and Robert A. Carle, Bartlesville,Okla., assignors to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation ofDelaware Filed Mar. Z9, 1966, Ser. No. 538,271

8 Claims. (Cl. 220-118) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A collapsiblecontainer is formed of two pieces of foldable sheet material. One pieceis a separate handle portion, and the other piece is formed of afoldable blank to produce a bottom panel, two side panels, two endpanels, and partition-forming members surmounting the carrier.

This invention relates to a carrier for a plurality of articles. In oneaspect, it relates to a carrier formed from two pieces of sheetmaterial, one for the article carrying body, and the second for ahandle. In another aspect, it relates to a foldable blank of sheetmaterial suitable for folding into an article carrier. In anotheraspect, it relates to a collapsible article carrier which may be foldedat when not being used for containing articles. In another aspect, itrelates to a bottle carrier equipped with a carrying handle. In stillanother aspect, it relates to a bottle carrier formed from plastic sheetmaterial. In yet another aspect, it relates to a plastic bottle carrierwhich is collapsible when not in use. In yet another aspect, it relatesto a plastic `6-pack, I8-pack, or l2-pack bottle carton which is formedfrom two sheets of plastic, one for bottled cells and -one -for ahandle, by individually shaping and folding the sheets, and then fusingthem into a complete carton.

The larger consumer market for various bottle and canned drinks createda necessity for inexpensive, durable, attractive carriers whereby theconsumers may handle a plurality of bottles or cans conveniently, andreuse the same containers for returning the bottles to the store fromwhich they were purchased. A number of such carriers have beendeveloped, generally holding six, eight or twelve bottles in individualcompartments. In general, these carriers are made of cardboard becauseof its low cost, but many of them are so designed that they could Vbemade of plastic or any other type of sheet material.

The requirements of these carriers are that they be economical, durable,attractive, of rigid build, and be collapsible to a compact flat packagefor storage and transportation purposes. `It is also desirable that thecarrier be provided with dividers which will prevent glass bottles inthe carrier from striking each other. It is additionally desirable thatthe material used for forming the container have good wet strength sothat it will not disintegrate or tear under the weight of carriedbottles if it should become wet.

It is, therefore, an object of our invention to provide a low costarticle carrier. It is a further object of our invention to provide acollapsible article carrier formed from sheet material. It is still afurther object of our invention to provide a bottle carrier which ispendent from a handle. It is a still further object of our invention toprovide a collapsible bottle carrier formed from two pieces of sheetmaterial. It is a still further object of our invention to provide aplastic bottle carrier which is collapsible Iwhen not in use.

Other aspects, objects and the several advantages of this invention areapparent to one skilled in the art from a study of this disclosure,drawings and the appended claims.

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The article carriers of our invention are illustrated in the appendeddrawings. FIGURE 1 shows the blank sheet material from which the bottomportion of our article carrier is formed by folding. FIGURE 2 shows theblank sheet material used for forming the handle for our articlecarrier. FIGURE 3 shows the assembled bottom part of our articlecarrier. FIGURE 4 shows the article carrier with handle attached. FIGURE5 shows the assembled carrier folded dat.

The lbottom part of the container is formed from the blank shown inFIGURE 1. This blank has a bottom panel 11 divided by longitudinal foldline 12 to form subpanels 11-A and 11-B. Attached to opposite sides ofthe bottom panel along longitudinal fold lines 13 and 13' are sidepanels 14 and 14. The top portions of side panels 14 and 14' are cut asshown by lines 15 and 15 to form partition-forming members 16 and v16.As shown, the middle portion of these partition-forming members is notcut, and thus leaves an upward extension of the side panel denoted by 17and 17', which extensions are joined to the partition-forming members 16by fold line 18 and 18'. Partition-forming members 16 and 16 areprovided with `fold lines 19 and 19 which create flange-forming members20 and 20'.

Attached to each end of the side panels 14 and 14' are end panels 21 and21', Vwhich are equipped with fold lines 22 and 22 forming flangemembers 23 and 23'.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the handle member is formed from a separate blank,and is equipped with notches 31 and hand holes 32. If desired, one ofthe hand holes can be provided with an inwardly and upwardly rolled edgeat the top of the hand hole adapted to interlock the other hand hole,and to provide a smooth surface for grasping the handle of the carrier.

As can be seen from FIGURE 3, the bottle carrier is assembled by foldingthe blank of FIGURE 1 along fold lines 13, 13', 24 and 24 to form agenerally rectangular box. Flange members 23 and 23' attached to endmembers 21 and 21' are folded longitudinally of the carrier and joinedto each other by any convenient means 'of afxation. While these angemembers will generally be folded inwardly of the carrier, it is possibleto fold them outwardly if desired. Partition-forming members 16 and 16'are folded inwardly, and their corresponding llange members 20 and 20'are attached to each other. Once again, these flange members may befolded either inwardly or outwardly along the longitudinal axis of thecarrier. The bottom part of the carrier is now prepared for attachmentof the handle portion. The handle is slipped into place with notches 31extending over partition-forming members 16. The handle is then attachedto ange members 20-20' and 23-23 by any convenient means, thus formingthe carrier as shown in FIGURE 4. In the embodiment shown, the handleportion forms the longitudinal partition between the two rows of bottlesin the carrier.

As shown in FIGURE 4, an upwardly rolled edge 33 of one hand hole 32 isinterlocked with the other hand hole, and serves to protect the handduring carrying. Alternately, a piece of longitudinally split tubingcould be used at the upper edge of the hand holes for protection of thehands in place of rolled edge 33.

As shown in FIGURE 5, the carrier can be collapsed by folding the bottompanel along longitudinal fold line l2.

While we have chosen to illustrate our invention with a carrier havingperfectly square corners on both the bottom portion and the handle, itis contemplated that various design congurations of these parts could bemade without departing from the scope of our invention.

As indicated above, the carrier of our invention can be formed from anyrigid sheet of material, including cardboard, paper, metal, or plastics.The currently preferred embodiment is a carrier formed of athermoplastic material, such as polystyrene, 1,polyamines, vinyls, andpolyolefins. Particularly, useful are polymers `of aliphaticmono-l-olens having a maximum of 8 carbon atoms per molecule and nobranching nearer the double Ybond than the 4 -position, such asethylene, propylene, butene-l, hexene-l, octene-l, and the like. Bothhomopolymers and copolymers of these olens are suitable. When suchthermoplastic materials are used, the joining of the flange members witheach other, and with the handle portion, will generally be accomplishedby fusion bonding, through means of a plastic spot Welder as is known inthe art. alternately, any adhesives suitable for the particularthermosplastic being used may find use in this bonding, or mechanicalattachment means can also be used.

In our preferred embodiment, end panels 21 are of rectangular shape, andenclose the entire end of the bottle carrier. Flange members 23 are of aheight coextensive with the height of side panel 14 for additionalstrength in bonding these flanges together.

We have shown handle assembly 34 to consist of a single sheet ofmaterial doubled over to provide two thicknesses by which the carrier iscarried. It is, however, within the contemplation of this invention touse a single thickness of material for the handle assembly, or to usetwo individual pieces of sheet material bonded together at the top edge.

The bottle carrier which we have illustrated will hold six bottles, withpartitions therebetween. If it is desired to form bottle carriers havingeight, twelve, or more bottles, it is only necessary to extend thelongitudinal dimensions of the bottom and side panels to the necessaryextent. In such a case, however, additional divider panels would besupplied to separate the bottles within each row, and would be equippedwith flanges whereby they could be affixed to side panels 14 and 14.

The carrier as depicted in the drawings hasflange members 20, 23, and 23of only suficient width to form an adhesive bond therebetween and withthe handle member. However, any one or all of these flange members couldbe extended if desired to form longitudinal partitions between the rowsof bottles. If desired, these flange members could be coextensive withthe length of the bottle carrier. For example, ange members 23 and 23could be extended to a length equal to that of fold line 12, and beafxed to flange members 43 and 43 at the opposite end of the bottlecarriers. Alternately, flanges 23, 23', 43, and 43 could be ofsubstantially equal length, each being slightly longer than the lengthOf fold line 12, whereby the anges would overlap in the middle of thecarrier, and be bonded to each other at that point.

Reasonable variation and modification are permissible within the spiritand scope of our invention as described in the specification, drawings,and appended claims.

We claim:

1. A collapsible contained formed of foldable sheet material comprising:

(1) an article-carrying bottom part including:

(a) a bottom panel;

(b) two side panels attached to opposite the bottom panel at fold lines;

(c) end panels attached to each end of each of said side panels at foldlines, each end panel being foldable halffway across the end of saidbottom part; I

(d) partition-forming members'vhaving a middle portion comprising. an;:upright planar-extension of the middle part of each saidy .side panel,.each such member havingtwo cross-partition strips attached to the edgesvof said middle portion along fold lines and being folded and extendinghalf-way acrsss'id bottom part to mate with the cross-partition stripsof yits opposite partition-forming member, said partition-forming memberlying above the plane formed by the upper edges of said side panels;,and(2) a separate handle portion of foldable material. 2. The container ofclaim 1 wherein said end panels are rectangular.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein said handle'portion comprises afolded panel of sheet material having the said fold at the top of saidcarrier when said carrier is in use.

4. The container of claim 1 wherein each of said end panels has afoldable vextension at its outer edge to form a longitudinal partitionin saidbottom part, said end panels being folded longitudinally of saidVbottom panel to mate with the extension of its opposite end panel, saidend panels being aixed to enclose the end of said bottom part. 1

5. The container of claim 4 wherein said extension is of equal height tosaid side panels and wherein the lower part of said handle portion formsa longitudinal partition in said bottom part.

6. The container of claim 4 wherein each of said crosspartition stripshas a foldable extension-at its outer edge folded longitudinally of saidbottom part to mate with the extension of its opposite cross-partitionmember and said cross-partition members are aixedpto each other.

7. The container of claim 6 wherein said handle portion is aflixed tothe extensions of said end panels and the extensions of saidcross-partition members. f

8. The container of claim 7 whereinsaid lfoldable material isthermoplastic, and said at'lixing is fusion bonding.

sides of References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,276,129 3/ 1942Wesselman A 220-112 X 2,285,399 6/ 1942 Arneson 22o-118 2,418,350 4/1947Holy 229--28 X .2,119,842 4/1947 Lebold l 220-118 2,675,157 4/1954Turner et al. 220V-V101 rX 2,712,777 7/ 1955 Bright 229-1542( 2,755,9647/1956 Ringler a 220-118 DAVIS T. MooRHEAD, Primary Examiner. l

